1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to biofeedback techniques and apparatus, and more particularly is directed towards a new and improved method and associated apparatus for monitoring skin potential response.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional biofeedback techniques which are employed to monitor the degree of autonomic arousal do so by measuring changes in skin resistance of the subject. While the monitoring of changes in skin resistance provides useful information in various biofeedback procedures, it has a number of inherent drawbacks which limit its utility. For example, changes in skin resistance in response to stimulation generally are rather slow and a rlatively long period of time is involved between the initial stimulation and the return of the skin resistance to a normal condition after the stimulation has been removed. Furthermore, normal skin resistance tends to vary so that the base line resistance, or reference, will vary thereby introducing error into the system. Furthermore, the signal produced by measuring skin resistance changes in one direction only and thus carries relatively little information.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in biofeedback techniques and instrumentation. Another object of this invention is to provide a quicker and more accurate means and technique for measuring the degree of autonomic arousal in response to stimulation. A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and associated apparatus for monitoring skin potential response and providing control means for shaping the skin potential response whereby signals are produced only when the detected signal exceeds certain preset limits, which limits may be increased or decreased selectively.